Project Controller I

Plummer Associates, Inc.; Fort Worth (TX); On-site; USD 65,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

Plummer Associates, Inc. seeks a Project Controller I to support project managers by maintaining reliable plans, forecasts, costs, and reporting within Unanet.

You will partner with Project Managers, Project Controls, Project Accounting, and Finance to ensure accurate budgets and schedules, with a focus on data integrity and clear communication. Analytical, organized candidates with experience in project-based professional services will thrive in this role in Fort Worth, TX.

Qualifications

• 3–5 years of experience in project controls, project finance, or PMO support.
• Strong Excel skills with formulas, lookups, pivot tables, and data reconciliation.
• Ability to identify inconsistencies and communicate findings clearly.
• Experience with Unanet or similar project-based ERP/scheduling system.
• Experience with Power BI or other dashboard/reporting tools.
• Experience in engineering consulting, architecture, construction, or project-based professional services.

Responsibilities

• Maintain project plans, forecasts, labor plans, budgeting, and billing rates.
• Confirm project setup aligns with budgets, LOE, fees, contracts, and amendments.
• Assist with estimates to complete, resource plans, staffing assumptions, and schedules.
• Review actual and scheduled costs for budget gaps or incorrect coding.
• Compare actual costs and remaining forecasts with budgets.
• Monitor changes in EAC, ETC, forecasted profit, and labor hours.
• Prepare project exception reports for monthly reviews.
• Monitor T&M-NTE and task-order projects for remaining authorization or overruns.
• Track subcontractor commitments, invoices, and unbilled work.
• Support identification of additional services, amendments, at-risk work, or unauthorized work.
• Document forecast decisions and updates, and support dashboard/reporting improvements.
• Provide responsive project controls support to PMs and internal stakeholders.
• Escalate unresolved budget/forecast/coding/authorization issues to owners.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Extreme attention to detail

Project financial awareness

Data accuracy and reconciliation

Forecasting and planning support

Problem identification and follow‑thru

Clear communication

Process discipline

Organization and prioritization

Collaborative service mindset

Continuous improvement

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business, or Project Management

Tools

Unanet

Power BI

Excel

Job description

Seeking a Project Controller I

Position Summary

The Project Controller I supports project managers and leadership by maintaining reliable project plans, forecasts, resource schedules, cost information, and performance reporting. This position works across engineering consulting projects to help ensure that budgets, schedules, staffing plans, costs, and contractual authorizations are accurately reflected in the company’s project management system (Unanet).

The Project Controller I will partner with Project Managers, Project Controls, Project Accounting, and Finance to identify project exceptions, improve forecast accuracy, support consistent project setup, and provide timely information for decision-making. The ideal candidate is analytical, organized, comfortable working with project financial data, and able to communicate clearly with both technical and financial teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Support consistent project setup, including WBS structure, budgets, labor plans, billing rates, allocation codes, project dates, and task dates.
• Confirm project setup agrees with approved budget, level-of-effort, fee, contract, and amendment information.
• Assist Project Managers with maintaining current estimates to complete, resource plans, staffing assumptions, and project schedules.
• Review actual and scheduled costs for missing budgets, incorrect coding, unsupported charges, and other project exceptions.
• Compare actual costs and remaining forecasts with approved project budgets.
• Monitor material changes in EAC, ETC, forecasted profit, labor hours, and project completion dates.
• Prepare project exception reports and supporting information for monthly Project Manager reviews.
• Monitor T&M-NTE and task-order projects for remaining authorization, forecasted cap dates, and potential overruns.
• Track subcontractor commitments, invoices, remaining forecasts, and completed work that may not yet be invoiced.
• Support the identification and tracking of additional services, pending amendments, at-risk work, and work performed without authorization.
• Document forecast decisions and follow through on required updates and corrections.
• Assist with project dashboards, KPI reporting, data validation, and trend analysis.
• Maintain project controls logs, templates, work instructions, and supporting documentation.
• Help develop and improve standardized Project Controls and Unanet processes.
• Provide responsive, service-oriented support to Project Managers and other internal stakeholders.
• Escalate unresolved budget, forecast, coding, authorization, or contract-cap issues to the appropriate owner.
• Support additional project accounting functions on an as-needed basis.
• Additional tasks may develop and existing tasks may change as Plummer grows.

Minimum Qualifications

• Three to five years of experience in project controls, project coordination, project finance, project accounting, PMO support, or a closely related project delivery function.
• Experience reviewing project budgets, actual costs, forecasts, schedules, or resource plans.
• Strong Excel skills, including formulas, lookups, pivot tables, filtering, and reconciliation of data from multiple sources.
• Ability to identify inconsistencies, investigate their causes, and communicate findings clearly.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively with Project Managers, accountants, finance professionals, and operational leaders.
• Ability to learn and consistently apply project setup, forecasting, and reporting standards.
• Experience supporting fixed-fee/lump sum, T&M, on-call, or task-order contracts.
• Experience with Unanet or another project-based ERP, accounting, scheduling, or resource-planning system.
• Experience with Power BI or other dashboard and reporting tools.
• Familiarity with project schedules, WBS development, resource planning, contract amendments, subcontractor commitments, and change management.
• Experience in engineering consulting, architecture, construction, environmental services, or another project-based professional-services environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Working understanding of earned value management concepts, including planned value, earned value, actual cost, CPI, SPI, ETC, EAC, and variance analysis.
• College Degree in Finance, Business, or Project Management, however additional work experience may supplement degree requirements.

Core Competencies

• Analytical thinking
• Extreme attention to detail
• Project financial awareness
• Data accuracy and reconciliation
• Forecasting and planning support
• Problem identification and follow-through
• Clear communication
• Process discipline
• Organization and prioritization
• Collaborative service mindset
• Continuous improvement

Initial Measures of Success

Within the first six months, the Project Controls Coordinator will be expected to:

• Learn Plummer’s project lifecycle, contract types, financial terminology, and Unanet processes.
• Support assigned Project Managers with consistent monthly project reviews.
• Improve the accuracy and completeness of resource plans, ETCs, project dates, and project coding.
• Identify and track missing budgets, unbudgeted costs, stale forecasts, authorization concerns, and other project exceptions.
• Produce reliable project-control reports with minimal supervision.
• Develop strong working relationships with Project Managers, Project Accounting, Finance, and operational leadership.
• Contribute to the documentation and improvement of Project Controls standards and workflows.